The Odyssey for Boys and Girls Told from Homer

Alfred John Church

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1919 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VIII MENELAUSS STORY The next day Menelaiis said to Telemachus: Tell me now on what business you have come. Is it on some affair of your own, or is it something that concerns the State? Telemachus answered: I have come to see whether you can tell me anything about my father. No one knows whether he is alive or dead. And I am in great trouble at home, because certain nobles of Ithaca and of the islands round about would have my mother choose a husband from among them, and meanwhile they devour my substance. Menelaiis said: They will certainly be punished for their wrong-doing. So a hind lays her young in a lions den, but when the lion comes back, he slays both her and her fawn. So will Ulysses slay these Suitors, for he will most certainly come back. But now I will tell you all that I know. In my travels I went to the land of Egypt, and when I wished to sail homeward, I could not, for the winds were against me. There is an island opposite the mouth of the Nile, which is the great river of Egypt. There I stayed, not of my own choice, for twenty days, till all our food was eaten up. Truly we had all perished, I and my men, but that one of the goddesses of the sea had pity on us. She was the daughter of a sea god, and one day as I sat alone, for my men were wandering about fishing with hooks for anything that they might catch, she stood by me and said: Surely this is a foolish thing that you do, sitting here till you and your men die of hunger/ I answered: I know not who you are, but I will tell you the truth. It is not of my own choice that I stay the winds are against me, and I cannot go. Tell me, now, whether I have offended the gods, and tell me also how I can return to my home. Then she said: I cannot tell you these...